Abstracts

The Tokyo board of education sets VOC measurement of indoor air as one of the environmental hygiene activities at all schools. The principals, school personnel, and school pharmacists are taking an unusual approach. Every July, when the indoor concentration of chemicals rises, has been designated "VOC Measurement Month". During VOC Measurement Month, the concentrations of formaldehyde and toluene are measured with a simple measuring instrument at all Tokyo metropolitan schools.
The results of the measurements for the past three years (2006-2008) for a total of 3456 classrooms showed that the concentration of formaldehyde exceeded the standard values (100μg/m3,0.08ppm) in a few classrooms each year. Naturally, such can be expected immediately after construction or repair work; however, in some cases standard values were exceeded even though many years had passed after repairs etc. Moreover, the concentration of formaldehyde in special classrooms is signifi cantly higher than that in regular classrooms (p<0.01). On the other hand, the concentration of the toluene did not exceed the standard values (260μg/m3) in cases where teaching materials that contain toluene were not used.
It is very important to properly manage the school health environment by monitoring classroom conditions, and it is effective to use simple measuring instruments in summer time, after building or repair work.